Volkswagen plans to produce cheaper models in Poland in the future. After the job cuts, there should be a job guarantee for the workforce.
The carmaker VW wants to cut around 5000 jobs in its main plant in Hanover in its Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles division (VWN) and to transfer parts of its production to Poland. “Another lever of our cost reduction plan is to reduce the workforce from 15,000 to 10,000 employees through natural fluctuation at the Hanover location,” said Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWN) boss Thomas Sedran to the industry newspaper “Automobilwoche”.
Commercial vehicles for commercial customers should therefore be built in Poland in the future or come from the new partner Ford. The production of more expensive vehicles such as premium vans or, from 2022, the fully electric ID buzz will remain in Hanover.
Sedran emphasized that the works council had approved the plans “by showing that it is simply not possible to build commercial vehicles for € 20,000 in Germany without putting it down”. In contrast, well-equipped vehicles offer prospects for around 10,000 employees in Hanover. “At the same time, we have a job guarantee until the end of 2029. All of this has of course been agreed with the works council,” said Sedran.
VWN already produces the Caddy, Transporter and Crafter models in Poland. Electric cars are also manufactured there. Last year, around 270,000 vehicles rolled off the assembly line at VW’s Polish plants.
